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Worship

Worship at the site of George Floyd’s death

I did a thread on Twitter looking into the worship at the site of George Floyd's death. 

 

First tweet of the thread: https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1272620688453455874

 

Last tweet of the thread: https://twitter.com/AndyRowell/status/1273881757339627521

 

Here is the whole thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1272620688453455874.html?refreshed=yes

 

 

Here is the full updated PDF of the thread:

Download Worship at George Floyd memorial 2 

 

Original PDF: 

Download Worship at George Floyd memorial

 

Below it is harder to read the thread but I pasted it there anyway. 

 

 

 

I deleted this comment on Instagram and Twitter because I see that Sean Feucht did not set up the stage.
Organizers:

Locals: Curtis Farrar and Alfonzo Williams of Worldwide Outreach Ministries.

?,

Sean Feucht@seanfeucht
 

Wild to me how white liberal Christians feel they know better than the black community on the ground what is needed for their own community.

You can’t make this stuff up! Talk about tone deaf… 🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️🤦🏼‍♂️

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A little research into those involved with the worship and preaching at the site of George Floyd's death.

Curtis Farrar pastors a small church on the corner where George Floyd was killed. He witnessed the killing on May 25th.
My May 26 tweet:

Andy Rowell@AndyRowell
 

Here is an interview with Pastor Curtis Farrar who has led Worldwide Outreach For Christ for 30 years which is on the corner where this happened. He witnessed the incident. https://twitter.com/ChaoStrib/status/1265350731382640641 …

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Chao Xiong@ChaoStrib
 

Here is the full 14-minute interview w/Pastor Curtis Farrar about the deth of #GeorgeFloyd https://photos.app.goo.gl/SEywqghmgPSkrzzdA …

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Alfonzo Williams "is a member of the Worldwide Outreach for Christ, a nearby church where he works security and helps organize events for the small congregation . . . Now he is part host, part traffic cop at the sprawling makeshift memorial for Floyd."

Charles Karuku, who is pastor of International Outreach Church in Burnsville (14 miles away), has been going to the site since May 31st and called it "Unity Rally Minneapolis."

,
charleskaruku.com/about-page

Joshua Lindquist has since June 3rd been working with outreach based at CityView Church in Minneapolis.

BennyK had been doing DJ work in the street since May 28th. He was looking for a stage on June 5th because YWAM Circuit Riders (outside speakers) were

Danny Bryan of Circuit Riders (that is affiliated with Youth With a Mission) of Huntington Beach, California says he was given permission to hold rallies by Curtis Farrar.
instagram.com/p/CBOvAQblvkV/…,

June 6-7 outside preachers:
Joel Bomberger (Huntington Beach, California

Christophe Ulysse (Brantford, Ontario, Canada) says they built the stage.

Jonathan Tremaine Thomas (St. Louis, Missiouri)

Joshua Giles has his ministry office in St. Louis Park about 8 miles from the site of George Floyd's death. He preached at the site on June 12th and did the two baptisms on June 13th in the videos of Sean Feucht.

Meanwhile, leading local pastors in the Twin Cities have been involved in grieving, marches, clean up, countering looting and arson, talking with political leaders, attending memorial services, organizing food drives, and leading worship services.
Sean Feucht of Bethel Music in Redding, California led worship there on Saturday night, June 13th.
Instagram:
instagram.com/p/CBZc52pJ0uE/, instagram.com/p/CBZkLqvg0I4/, instagram.com/p/CBa5RxhAjlh/
Facebook video:

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Any group who sets up near the site of George Floyd's death should consider whether they are disturbing other people gathering to mourn or reflect or learn. A microphone and music with big speakers right at the site is very questionable.
One of the lessons from the death of George Floyd is that outsiders need to be sensitive to local neighborhood issues. Outsiders need to listen, not preach. White people generally need to follow the lead of people of color and others with long-earned relevant knowledge.
As someone who ran in a Republican primary in March for Congress in Redding, California, and was photographed touching Donald Trump's sleeve at the White House in December, Sean Feucht brings baggage to being a messenger of reconciliation in Minneapolis.

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Andy Rowell@AndyRowell
 

Here is a list of the worship leaders who met with President Trump at the White House on Friday, December 6, 2019. https://www.andyrowell.net/andy_rowell/2019/12/list-of-worship-leaders-gathering-at-the-white-house-on-friday-dec-6-2019.html …

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Sean Feucht says the Saturday evening time of leading worship was among the most powerful revivals he has ever seen in the United States.
His statement:
instagram.com/p/CBZkLqvg0I4/,
Compare video: instagram.com/p/CBa5RxhAjlh/
and other description:

Em 🌔@emmalouiseri
Replying to @emmalouiseri
 

 

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Worship is both expressive and formative. In this case, worship should help people express their agony and anger. And form people, prepare people, to act for justice.
See:

Esau McCaulley Ph.D@esaumccaulley
 

This was not easy to write. I tried to speak as honestly as I could in @nytimes about Black Anger and a theology of hope.https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/opinion/george-floyd-psalms-bible.html …

Protestors outside of a burning fast food restaurant, on May 29, in Minneapolis.

Opinion | What the Bible Has to Say About Black Anger

The Psalms are not silent about the rage of the oppressed.

nytimes.com

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, and worship resources at:

Calvin Institute of Christian Worship@cicw
 

We lament and grieve the indefensible and tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery even as we continue to lament and grieve the indefensible and tragic deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Sandra Blanc, Eric Garner, Rekia Boyd…. https://worship.calvin.edu/resources/resource-library/anti-racism-in-the-renewing-of-christian-worship-2020 …

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Prayer for people is very appropriate and good but it would be best if people wore masks to prevent infection. There are numerous signs at the site urging people to wear masks for the safety of everyone.

Em 🌔@emmalouiseri
Replying to @emmalouiseri
 

Another layer. Their prayer tram was not wearing masks, getting really close to people,.and touching them without their permission.

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Evangelism involves Christians acting in such a way that they are worthy of trust. This almost always involves sincere listening to people about their wounds and pain and pledging support to help them. This is demonstrating to people what Jesus was like.
The Christian eventually explains why they act the way they do. But preaching or playing Christian songs tends to repel people rather than attracting them if the person has not been seriously listened to.
Baptism is indeed celebratory. It is part of someone's journey from the grip of self-destructive sin to a new start with God. Typically this is done with others who will assist and encourage the person with their journey.
 
 
These two images do tell a different story:

Good overview here:

More discussion in this thread of the video of Sean Feucht and Charles Karuku. Recall that Karuku is a pastor in Burnsville, a suburb. He is selling his book on Facebook amid videos of himself. Feucht is a worship leader from Redding, California.

The thread above tries to trace how Sean Feucht was in Minneapolis at the site of George Floyd's death about 19 days later.
(1) The local black pastor gave
(2) YWAM preachers from California the okay to come preach,
(3) a suburban pastor made a page on Facebook,
(4) Sean.
Jake Dockter has also been trying to figure out what Sean Feucht was doing in Minneapolis.

RJ was trying to help Sean Feucht and I interact on Instagram but I deleted my initial reply to him because I learned the "stage" had been set up June 6th (not the 13th). Meanwhile he had screenshotted my reply and tweeted it angrily. 🤷‍♂️
Instagram:

Having listened to Sean Feauct reflect on what he was trying to do, it sounds like he sees himself as a worship catalyst and therefore he should rush like a firefighter to world problems. And he says he has done so. I wonder if there is a theological misunderstanding there.
Jesus was late sometimes so missed his chance to heal people so he had to do it later or from afar. He played down the importance of special worship sites. He usually avoided crowds and the spotlight. Is that applicable?
Is worship music what is needed in a global crisis? Partially. But when hurrying from place to place one can make cultural errors because one does not know the context, making the crisis worse.
Or one can be used by the players involved so as to appear partisan, making it worse.
Billy Graham, Martin Luther King Jr., and all U.S. Presidents all considered carefully the message their presence would send. And whether it would distract and make things worse.
There is certainly a place for crisis response teams in earthquakes and for news media to hurry to get on the scene. But they have a very limited, modest, practical purpose.
The other thing Sean Feucht seems to believe in is hyping, marketing, selling "revival" worship gatherings so that people know about them. He is trying to publicize these good things. The challenge is to avoid the embellishing and exaggerating, which misleads the trusting person.
I think he sincerely thinks that if he can be somewhere and play worship songs there, the Spirit of God will be unleashed from its local chains to bring healing to people. But I think that puts too much pressure on Sean Feucht and underestimates God.
As a little more information trickles out, I will add it below.
For example, Josh Giles (St. Louis Park, MN) who spoke last night with Sean Feucht on Instagram, (and was preacher on June 12-13 and Sean was there June 13), run in similar circles.

Unity Rally / Revival Minneapolis Facebook page is run by Charles Karuku of Burnsville, MN.

Curtis Farrar of Worldwide Outreach for Christ is the church at the site.

They are both Pentecostal churches and led by people of color.

Wow. I just found out that Sean Feucht took a screen shot of a deleted Instagram reply by me while we were replying back and forth there and posted it on Facebook (as well as Twitter).

The three images from Instagram below.

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.